>> Wednesday, December 24, 2008

I wish you all the warmest and merriest of Christmases. May God bless you and yours!

Luke 2: 1-20

1In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2(This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3And everyone went to his own town to register.

4So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

The Shepherds and the Angels

8And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ[a] the Lord. 12This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

13Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,14"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

15When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

16So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Above is today's edition of the Carolina Weather Video. No new video will be cut tomorrow, but I should have a new one for you bright and early Friday morning.

First of all, a reminder about our little snow contest. See the blog post below for all of the details. Basically, post your forecast for whether or not you think the Charlotte airport will see accumulating snow for the remainder of this Winter in the comments section below. If you do, post the date that you think it will occur. The closest person will win some fantastic News 14 Carolina swag (possibly a pen, pencil, bookmark, or maybe even a cap!).

Some showers will push through tonight, and tomorrow's forecast is a bit tricky. Some modeling lingers the rain chances through much of the day. For the time being, I have continued to do with the idea of some drying taking place from north to south tomorrow, but it is a low confidence forecast.

Look for cool and drizzly weather Friday, followed by a very mild Saturday and some rain Sunday.

I still think a colder pattern should settle in here around the New Year. Looks like the 6z GFS has caught on to the idea....

>> Tuesday, December 23, 2008

See the video above....been getting some questions about my thoughts on January, and I get into that in the video. In general, I think it is looking more and more likely that we will see some good shots of cold air as we get into the new year. Details are still sketchy. Like I said, see the video.

Some clouds rolled in here last night, and that kept our temps from really bottoming out. However, it is still cold this morning with lows in the low to mid 20s for most.

High clouds will be with us today with highs at best in the lower 40s. Clouds will thicken and lower tonight, and some drizzle will be possible tonight through tomorrow.

Out next system will swing through mainly tomorrow night, bringing some showers. The good news is that is looks like the system will be largely gone by Christmas morning with some sunshine making its return during the day.

More showery weather will be with us at times later Friday through the weekend before things dry out again by Monday.

On another note, for all of you snow fans out there, let's have a little contest. By posting in the comments section below, let's see who can predict our next accumulating snowfall.

The site will be the Charlotte airport. If you do not think we will see any accumulating snow for the remainder of this Winter, you can certainly forecast that. However, if you think we will see accumulating snow (and a 'trace' counts in this contest), you have to guess the date that it will occur.

The person who is correct or closest wins. If we do not see any snow, and multiple people forecasted as such, I will draw names out of a hat to pick a winner.

What do you win, you might ask. How about a fantastic News 14 Carolina bookmark, pencil, and pen? I don't know...I will see what I can dig out of the big closet here.